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Thanks for visiting WACAP's Store! In association with Tapestry Books, a premier online adoption bookstore, we're pleased to bring you some of our favorite adoption books. Click a title or cover image to learn more about a book or purchase it from Tapestry Books. A percentage of your purchase goes to WACAP; we'll use it to help orphans and other children who need families.

Adoption Books – WACAP’s Top Picks

Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution Is Transforming America
by Adam Pertman

Adam Pertman's groundbreaking Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution Is Transforming America was named Book of the Year by the National Adoption Foundation soon after its publication, and has been reviewed as “the most important book ever written on the subject.”

Now the executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, Pertman was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his writing about adoption in the Boston Globe. His other honors include the Angel in Adoption award from the U.S. Congress’ adoption caucus; the Special Friend of Children Award from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; and the Dave Thomas Center for Adoption Law’s first award for “the nation’s greatest contributor to public understanding about adoption and permanency placement issues.” Visit Adam Pertman's Web site for more information.

Attaching in Adoption
by Deborah D. Gray

Proper attachment is the most fundamental issue in a successful adoption, but what exactly does the term mean? Attaching in Adoption answers that question thoroughly, and it provides solutions to a variety of specific attachment problems.

Along with technical explanations of challenges such as self-esteem, childhood grief, and limit-testing, the book includes a tremendous number of personal vignettes illustrating attachment-related situations. Parents who are convinced that only their child has ever behaved a certain way are sure to take comfort in these stories; not only do they include kids from all backgrounds and age groups, but each has an ultimately happy ending. The emotional health of the whole family is also paramount according to the book--with plenty of rest and "alone time," caregivers are more likely to be emotionally available when they are most needed.

Because Attaching in Adoption focuses on special needs, families who are coming together through foster programs, at later ages, or across cultural lines will find it especially helpful. Both psychologically detailed and straightforwardly helpful, it can be of equal benefit to counselors and parents alike.

Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self
by David M. Brodzinsky

This book illustrates common developmental pathways of adoptees as they occur throughout the life span. It probes the complex issues that are involved in this ongoing life process.

The Family of Adoption
by Joyce Maguire Pavao

Pavao, a family and adoption therapist, explains to adoptive parents, birthparents, adult adoptees and family, as well as to those who work with children, the developmental stages and challenges one can expect in the life of an adopted person.

Helping Children Cope with Separation and Loss
by Claudia Jewett Jarratt

This book offers step-by-step guidance for any concerned adult who wants to help a child talk about, cope with, and recover from a loss.

A Love Like No Other: Stories from Adoptive Parents
edited by Pamela Kruger and Jill Smolowe

From various perspectives, 20 adoptive parents offer evocative, sometimes provocative, personal essays that have the liveliness and immediacy of prose fiction. Biological parents are variously imagined, sought and found in the opening section, "Reflections on Birth Parents." In "Encounters with the Unexpected," adoptive parents confront "postadoption depression," family wariness, ethnic identity issues and disabling psychological problems. Each family (single parent, gay parent, divorced parents, intra-family adoption, blended family) is adoptive in its unique way, persuasively confirmed in "Variations on Family." While the early sections focus on the parent-child relationship, the concluding "Personal Transformations" leans toward the child-to-parent effect; as one writer puts it, "I knew a child would rearrange my home life, but upend my career and worldview? Those two items weren't even on my list." Any parent will find commonality here, but the collection will especially engage adoptive parents in conversation and controversy with people who share their dilemmas and delights.

(Jill Smolowe is an award-winning veteran journalist and staff writer for People magazine. She and her husband, Joe Treen, adopted their daughter, Becky, through WACAP's China program).

Raising Adopted Children: A Manual for Adoptive Parents
by Lois Ruskai Melina

This book covers current adoption research in child development, psychology, sociology, and medicine, while focusing on the experiences of adoptive families.

Real Parents, Real Children
by Holly van Gulden

This book, which covers all aspects of adoption, argues that whatever happened, whenever it took place, and for whatever reasons, children in need of adoption have become separated from their birth parents and their genetic roots. Though writing for the adoptive parent, the authors have produced a book that will also be useful for professionals working with adoptive families. One fear among expectant parents is whether they and their child will be close. Adoptive parents ask, "Can I love an adopted child the same as I would a birth child?" Beginning with bonding of child to parent, the authors do a fine job on the developing child, covering early infancy through adolescence. Leading authority Van Gulden offers practical advice for parents on how to talk with their children about adoption and how to help them through the rougher times of growing up adopted.

Secret Thoughts of an Adoptive Mother
by Jana Wolff

This fiercely honest and funny book answers questions no one else dares to ask: What if I don't like the kid I get? Will my child ever feel like mine? If this is the happiest day of my life, why am I so sad? Will she want the baby back? Will I want to return him? The book garnered rave reviews from Betty Jean Lifton, Jamie Lee Curtis, Cathy Guisewite, Adoptive Families of America, San Francisco Chronicle, and hundreds of readers. New, revised edition now in paper.

Twenty Life-Transforming Choices Adoptees Need to Make
by Sherrie Eldridge

More than 70 adoptees transparently share their stories in Twenty Life-Transforming Choices Adoptees Need to Make, responding to questions such as these: Do you ever feel alone? Do you struggle with fears of rejection? Do you have a special place in your heart for your birth parents? Do you know who to trust? Do you have a good self-image? Do you feel like you don’t belong? Do you ever think about a reunion with your birth family? This book celebrates the fact that adoption can teach some of life’s deepest and richest lessons. For more information, visit the author's Web site, Jewel Among Jewels Adoption Network.

Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew
by Sherrie Eldridge

Filled with powerful insights from children, parents, and experts in the field, plus practical strategies and case histories that will ring true for every adoptive family, Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew is an invaluable guide to the complex emotions that take up residence within the heart of the adopted child—and within the adoptive home. For more information, visit the author's Web site, Jewel Among Jewels Adoption Network.

WACAP-Related Books

The following books were written by WACAP parents or staff, or have some other connection to WACAP. Click a cover image or title to purchase. Some books in this section are offered through WACAP's affiliation with Amazon.com, which will return 10 percent of the purchase price to WACAP.

You Are Special—You Were Chosen
by Joanna Ferlan and Mary Fox Prather

Joanna Ferlan learned at an early age from her adoptive father just how special she was, because he wrote her a story about just how much he loved her. Now in You Are Special—You Were Chosen, written with Mary Prather, she shares the amazing story he once told her with adoptive children everywhere. Ferlan and Prather show in this timeless poem just how much an adoptive child is loved before he or she is ever born.

WACAP recommends this book for adoptive parents to read to their children. The simplicity of the message will reassure the youngest children of love from both sides: their birth mothers and their adoptive families.

Selected China Stories of Elder-Respecting
by the China Center of Adoption Affairs

Selected China Stories of Elder-Respecting is a charming book published by the China Center of Adoption Affairs. Full of stories about children finding ways to honor their parents and grandparents, it’s a fascinating glimpse of Chinese culture that’s also universal in its appeal for strong family relationships. It’s presented in an attractive slipcover and is full of delightful illustrations. We think it’s an ideal gift or keepsake, not only for our China families but for anyone interested in adoption or in other cultures. WACAP has copies of the book for sale for $10. Buy one today, or call 206-575-4550 to order a copy or request more information.

A Quilt of Wishes
by Teresa Werner

Babies in northern China sometimes receive a bai jia bei, or "quilt of 100 good wishes," from their parents. In A Quilt of Wishes, one adoptive mom taps into that tradition for herself and her baby. While parent and child wait to meet each other, the quilt is already bringing them closer together.

(Author Teresa Werner adopted her daughter, Natalie, through WACAP's China program a few months after sending her a quilt like the one in the story).

Weaving God’s Love Across Cultures: Transracial Adoption and Faith
by Mary Lindberg

Edited by WACAP mom Rev. Mary Lindberg, Weaving God’s Love Across Cultures: Transracial Adoption and Faith is a new resource guide published by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The 70-page softcover book features articles written by adoptees, adoptive parents, ministers, church lay workers and social workers—all offering their perspectives on coming to terms with transracial adoption in the context of Christianity. For anyone curious about how adoption fits into a religious worldview, this book is a great place to start. You can purchase the book online for $14 from Augsburg Fortress.

An Empty Lap: One Couple's Journey to Parenthood
by Jill Smolowe

In her late thirties, journalist Jill Smolowe's life and career at Time magazine was on track. Her husband, Joe, was still her most trusted confidante and best friend. And now that she and Joe had decided finally to have a child, Jill assumed the pregnancy that had come so easily to all the women in her family would be her own next chapter. But nature had a different script in mind.

As her quest for a child swerved from the roller coaster of infertility procedures toward the baffling maze of adoption options, Jill's desperation deepened—while Joe's resistance to children only hardened. In the fog of depression, disappointments, and dead ends, their marriage began to founder. Then, halfway around the world, in Yangzhou, China, she encountered a future she'd never imagined might be hers.

Jill Smolowe is an award-winning veteran journalist and staff writer for People magazine. She and her husband, Joe Treen, adopted their daughter, Becky, through WACAP's China program.

The Mommy Mole
by John Medler, Jr.

This is a heartwarming story about international adoption by a WACAP adoptive parent. Molly Mole was feeling a great void in her life without a child to love. On the other side of the world, baby Natasha searched for a new mommy. Maybe, if Natasha can overcome all: her small size, foreign lands, and scary predators, she can find her new mommy mole. The Mommy Mole helps adopted children understand that they are not only a great treasure to their new parents, but that their birth parents love them, too.